Party General Secretary and State President Tô Lâm arrived at Orly Airport in Paris late Oct 3 for the France visit. — VNA/VNS Photo Trí Dũng

PARIS — Party General Secretary and State President Tô Lâm and his entourage arrived at Orly Airport in Paris in the evening of October 3 (local time), starting their participation in the 19th Francophonie Summit and an official visit to France from October 3-7 at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron.

Prominent in his entourage are Bùi Thị Minh Hoài, Politburo member, Secretary of the Hà Nội Party Committee; Nguyễn Duy Ngọc, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Chief of the Office of the Party Central Committee; Lê Hoài Trung, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, head of its Commission for External Relations; and Bùi Thanh Sơn, member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Lâm's participation in the summit is to continue affirming Việt Nam's role as a key member of the Francophonie community in Asia-Pacific, as well as Việt Nam's active and responsible participation in the activities of the Francophonie community in particular and the international community at large, helping strengthen and consolidate multilateralism and international cooperation and solidarity.

Through the participation, Việt Nam continues to affirm its socio-economic and cultural achievements over the past time.

This also marks the first visit by a Vietnamese President to France in the past 22 years, aiming at making the bilateral strategic partnership more profound and practical; further boosting the bilateral cooperation, especially in the field of trade, investment, culture, education, science and technology, and cooperation among localities.

It is also to intensify party-to-party foreign activities, especially with the Communist Party of France, and people-to-people diplomacy, thus pushing the French government to continue its attention, support, and facilitation for the Vietnamese community in the host country. — VNS